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Celebrating Oktoberfest
in Namibia
By: Peter Bridgeford - Vultures Namibia Project
Photographs: Chris Coetzee
Oktoberfest is one of the most popular and famous events in Germany and the largest fair in the world.
In 1999, during the 18-day festival,
over six million litres of beer was
consumed by almost seven million
visitors. That is not counting the
thousands of litres of wine, coffee, tea
and hundreds of tons of food.
The first festival in 1810 was held to
commemorate the marriage of Crown
Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese.
Over the years, the festival has grown
and now includes magnificently
decorated horse teams from competing
breweries. Locals in traditional
costumes parade through the centre
of Munich to the festival grounds at
Theresienwiese, accompanied by
gaily decorated floats and thousands
of visitors.
Oktoberfest is also celebrated in
Namibia and other parts of the world,
especially those where there is a
sizeable German-speaking community.
Large tents are erected where visitors
can sit, talk and eat typical German
food, while loud music is played. The
atmosphere is lively, with children
running around and adults relaxing
and quaffing large amounts of beer.
Then there is another group in
Namibia, only a handful of ‘strange’
people, who celebrate October in a
different way. Scattered across this
vast country, the group
migrates to certain areas in October.
Although this movement may appear
lemming-like, no suicidal tendencies
are visible, although other aberrant
behaviour has been recorded. This
gathering of the clan has slowly
gained momentum over the past five
or six years. These ‘strange’ folks,
who gather in the Namib Desert, are
vulturephiles, or lovers of vultures.
To outsiders this may seem strange,
as vultures are birds that suffer from
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If you see a marked vulture, please
contact Vultures Namibia with the
details of where and when you saw
the marked bird and, of course, the
tag number.
E-mail: pmbridge@iway.na or
phone: 081 260 7375Lappet-faced and White-backed Vultures in the Namib-Naukluft Park.

2. 12 | | 13
‘bad press’. Vultures are often
depicted as the ‘nasties’, for
example, when there is an accident,
tow-truck operators who descend on
the victims are often called vultures.
Even some people in the legal
profession are known, heaven alone
knows why, as vultures. Now these
maligned birds have vulturephiles
on their side and they are promoting
vultures as the ‘good guys’.
The vultures of Namibia, and
in fact vultures all over southern
Africa, not only suffer from ‘bad
press’, but are continually being
killed. This persecution, by poison,
bullets and gin-traps, is aggravated
by habitat destruction, collision
with power lines and electrocutions,
drowning in farm reservoirs and
disturbance at nesting sites. The
birds are killed to harvest body
parts for traditional healers who use
the eyes and other body parts to try
and predict the winning numbers in
lotteries, etc. The litany of assaults
against these defenceless birds is
endless. In many areas in southern
Africa, they are poisoned in large
numbers to hide the illegal slaughter
of other animals. Recent poaching
incidents of elephants and giraffes
where followed by mass poisoning
of hundreds of vultures in Namibia
and Botswana. The poachers placed
large amounts of poison in the
remnants of the carcasses. The aim
was to kill the vultures feeding on
the carcasses, as large numbers of
these birds in the sky attract the
attention of conservation officials
and police.
Jackals, badgers, caracal, hyenas
and other predators cause hundreds
of thousands of dollars of damage to
stock farmers every year. For a small
minority of people, the easiest way of
solving the problem is to use poison.
Vultures often find the poison before the
target animal does, or the vulture dies
of secondary poisoning after feeding on
the dead predator. Vultures then become
innocent victims in a ‘dirty war’. To draw
the attention of the public and farmers
to the plight of these scavenging birds,
Vultures Namibia has been promoting
| 1312 |
Lappet-faced Vulture landing, with White-backed Vultures on the ground.
Removing a Lappet-faced
Vulture chick from the nest.
Tagging a Lappet-faced Vulture chick.
A tagged chick in its nest.

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vulture conservation for several years.
One of the projects targets farmers, as
the majority of birds feed on commercial
farms. Although many vultures breed in
national parks, game reserves and other
protected areas, they often feed on farms
and this is where the danger lies.
Since 2003, volunteers working for
Vultures Namibia have been ringing
vulture chicks on farms. The aim is
to expose landowners, their families
and farm workers to the importance
of vultures in the ecosystem and the
many dangers that the birds face. The
people on the farms are involved in
ringing the chicks while they are still
in the nest. Once the nest has been
found, a long ladder is used to climb
to the nest, the chick is placed in a
bag and lowered to the ground. The
chick is then ringed with a numbered
metal ring around one leg. A yellow
The Namibia Nature Foundation
(NNF) is one of the largest
non-governmental organisations
(NGO) targeting conservation
and sustainable development in
Namibia. The primary aims of the
NNF are to promote sustainable
development, the conservation of
biological diversity and natural
ecosystems, and the wise and
ethical use of natural resources for
the benefit of all Namibians, both
present and future. The Namibia
Nature Foundation (NNF) manages
the Vultures Namibia finances.
www.nnf.org.na
cattle eartag, engraved with a number
is attached to each wing. The tag is
easy to see when the vulture is feeding
or perched in a tree. The chick is
measured, weighed and then returned
to the nest. The nest is measured and
other pertinent information is entered
on the nest form. The ringing party
takes many photographs, which are
shown to friends and neighbours. This
serves to increase the exposure the
project needs to succeed. Because it
is a ‘hands-on’ project involving the
landowners and workers it creates a
lasting impression and commitment.
The vultures are marked with
rings and patagial tags so each bird
is individually identified. Many
questions still have to be answered:
do the young birds leave the natal
area?, how far do they fly to find food?,
how long do they live?, do they visit
neighbouring countries? and when
mature, do they breed in the area
where they were raised? Vultures only
lay one egg at a time and the breeding
cycle lasts almost a year. In addition,
vultures take five to six years to reach
sexual maturity. Vulture populations
therefore increase slowly and mass
poisonings are extremely harmful
to their ultimate survival. These
scavengers are nature’s cleaners,
removing rotten and disease-infected
carcasses from the environment. This
prevents the spread of disease and
saves the farmer the cost and time of
disposing of animal carcasses.
Oktoberfest is a time for fun,
relaxation and enjoying the company
of family and friends. It is also the time
of year when vulturephiles have fun,
enjoying the company of like-minded
people and doing their small part
by drawing attention to the fact that
vultures are in need of our help.
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An adult Lappet-faced Vulture. Pilot Peter Keil of West Air during the annual vulture nest survey.
A tagged chick and one of the support vehicles.